Seoul Semiconductor reported that the company got to showcase its SunLike Series LEDs at the Professional Lighting Design Conference (PLDC) in Paris, France. The South Korean company first launched the SunLike Series of LEDs in June. (Ref: Coverage). Seoul noted that new products from lighting designers using the company’s SunLike LED technology were also showcased at PLDC 2017, which drew more than 2000 attendees.
PLDC 2017 invited the director of Seoul Semiconductor’s Lighting Divison, Mr. Yo Cho, to be the keynote speaker during the opening event. Mr. Yo Cho discussed Seoul Semiconductor’s SunLike Series LED technology for the presentation.
“Because the SunLike Series LEDs are designed to deliver light that closely matches sunlight’s natural spectrum, they provide an optimized light source that maximizes the benefits of natural light,” said Mr. Cho. “Thus, the colors and texture of objects can be viewed more accurately, as they would be seen under natural sunlight.”
Natural sunlight is the standard upon which the LED lighting industry has based their premier color rendering LEDs upon. Unlike most LEDs, natural white sunlight comes from an entire rainbow of the light spectrum. It is from this perfect blend of the spectrum that sunlight derives its ideal color rendering. All of the major LED lighting companies and many others have attempted to create LEDs that mimic natural sunlight. The results of Seoul Semiconductor’s attempts at this difficult technological feat is the company’s aptly named SunLike Series of LEDs.
According to Dr. Kibum Nam, head of Seoul Semiconductor R&D Center and chief technology officer, “SunLike Series LEDs have the potential to drive a revolution in lighting – overcoming the limits of artificial light sources by implementing light closer to the natural spectrum of sunlight. Seoul will open a new era of natural spectrum lighting with the launch of more SunLike LED technology.”
SunLike Series Said to Reduce Blue Spike
The company contends that unlike conventional LED technology that uses a blue LED coated with a yellow phosphor that shows a spike in the blue portion of the spectrum, its SunLike Series LEDs emit in a more uniform spectrum that more closely matches natural sunlight. The SunLike Series utilizes the Tri-R phosphor technology from Toshiba Materials that is said to reduce this blue spike in the emission spectrum.
While blue is an important part of the spectrum, research into human physiology has shown that blue recognizing retinal cells make up only about 5.7 percent of all retinal cells. So, having to much blue emission is likely unnecessary in creating the ideal color rending.
Seoul also points to some recent research which suggests that this blue light spike may produce negative health consequences when viewed for prolonged periods during night-time hours, possibly interfering with natural human biorhythms. The company further contends that by utilizing new light sources powered by its SunLike Series LEDs, lighting designers will be able to provide a healthier light experience.
Interest in how light effects health has never been greater. In fact, the 2017 winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology went to Professor Jeffrey C. Hall, University of Maine; Professor Michael Morris Rosbach, Brandeis University; and Professor Michael Young, Rockefeller University who are credited with seminal discoveries related to the cellular mechanisms of circadian biology.
